Vallejo (ferry): Difference between revisions

{{useUse dmy dates |date=JulyJune 20132023}}

|Ship power={{convert|455|hp|abbr=on}} Steamsteam engine

The '''''Vallejo''''' is a [[houseboat]] in [[Sausalito, California]], United States. It was originally a [[passenger [[ferry]] in [[Portland, Oregon]], known as ''O&CRR Ferry No. 2'', in the late 19th century. After falling into disuse in Portland, it was transported to the [[San Francisco Bay]] in California, where it was used as a ferry between [[Vallejo, California|Vallejo]] and [[Mare Island]] until the end of [[World War II]]. It was later purchased by a group led by artist [[Jean Varda]], and repurposed as a houseboat, where a number of parties and salons were hosted. The vessel was sold to the Society for Comparative Philosophy ("SCP") which was created by Alan Watts and Elsa Gidlow to be a charitable and teaching organization in 1962. It hosted many seminars and musical events and attracted many of the leading figures in the San Francisco area counterculture scene of the 1960s,70s and '70s80s. Jean Varda rented from the SCP until his death in the early 1970s. The Society continued, with Elsa Gidlow in a leadership role, until her death in 1986.

|title = [[:File:Last stopStop for Ferry No. 2.djvu|Last Stop for Ferry No. 2]]

}}</ref> The 414 ton boat<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ug0tAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA2569&dqq=Oregon+%26+California+Ferry+No.+2#v=onepage&qpg=Oregon%20%26%20California%20Ferry%20No.%202&f=falsePA2569 | title=Report of the Chief of Engineers U.S. Army| last1=Corps Ofof Engineers| first1=United States. Army| year=1889}}</ref> was put into service in 1879 by [[Henry Villard]], to replace an aging ferry initially set up by [[Ben Holladay]]. In November 1878, a drunken passenger had stepped off the boat before it landed, and drowned; the resulting legal action was ultimately appealed to the [[Oregon Supreme Court]].<ref>

|author=[[Oregon Supreme Court]]

With the construction of the [[Steel Bridge]] in 1888, the ferry was no longer needed; after several idle years, it was transported to the [[San Francisco Bay]], renamed ''Vallejo'' (no later than 1904<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMhBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA342&lpg=PA342&dqq=155011+%22Vallejo%22#v=onepage&qpg=155011%20%22Vallejo%22&f=falsePA342 | title=Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States| year=1904}}</ref>), and converted to use coal and then oil for fuel. A [[bill of sale]] dated 1923 reflects a purchase by Robert Rauhauge of the Mare Island Line.<ref name=sutter /> It was put into service transporting workers and visitors between the city of [[Vallejo, California|Vallejo]] and [[Mare Island]].<ref name=laststop/> Ferry service was discontinued after the end of World War II, and with the construction of a [[causeway]] connecting Mare Island and Vallejo; ''Vallejo'' was the last ferry to be retired. She was sold for scrap in 1947, and delivered to [[Sausalito, California|Sausalito]] to be broken up.<ref name=sutter />

Under the auspices of The Society For Comparative Philosophy ( 1962- 19841962–1984) poet Elsa Gidlow and philosopher [[Alan Watts]] bought Ford's share of the houseboat in 1961. The ferry was then used as home base for Alan and Jano Watts and meeting place for hundreds of Society functions.<ref>{{cite web |last=Foley |first=Heide |title=Short Biography [of Jean Varda] |date=2003 |website=The Jean Varda Project |url=http://www.varda.to/bio_01.htm |accessdateaccess-date=2011-08-26}}</ref><ref name=watts>{{cite book |first=Alan |last=Watts |title=In My Own Way, an Autobiography |publisher=New World Library |location=Novato, California |year=1972 |pages=300–304 |isbn=}}</ref> The Society's parties and salons continued until the 1980s when the vessel became too expensive to maintain and was sold.

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''Vallejo'' deteriorated badly during the 1960s. Varda died suddenly in 1971, as did Watts in 1973.<ref name=sutter /> Talks, continuedseminars, and musical events continued on the boat after Watts’Watts' death and into the 1980s, fromas the SCP remained a viable entity which charitably hosted such events as part of their mission statement. From the early 1970s. Lama Govinda and Li Gotami held talks there. Also, Elsa Gidlow and Margo St. James held the first meeting of Whores, Housewives and Others (WHO) here at this time. Tai chi master Al Huang held seminars with flute playing, dancing and meditation before and for several years after Watts died in 1973. In 1978 [[Alfred Sorensen]], a mystic known as Sunyata held weekly meetings there where he would answer questions from visitors.<ref>[https://digitalseance.wordpress.com/all-posts/a-conversation-with-william-patrick-patterson/ A Conversation with William Patrick Patterson by Guy Spiro] ''The Monthly Aspectarian'' 2001</ref> [[Mickey Hart]] of the Grateful Dead gave a concert here.

Marian Saltman, who had begun living on ''Vallejo'' in 1971, rented for years and arranged for its purchase in 1981, andwhen she began to restore the boat. She said, "I hope she will continue to be the home of remarkable people and ideas, and I wish her to serve the creative and artistic needs of Sausalito and the Bay Area."<ref name=sutter /> In 1985, the San Francisco Zen Center took possession of the vessel when Saltman no longer wanted to continue her payments to the SCP. The SFZC soon gave up the dilapidated boat whose upkeep became unwieldy.

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* [[wikisource:en:Memoirs_of_Henry_VillardMemoirs of Henry Villard/Volume_2Volume 2/Book_8Book 8#304|''Memoirs of Henry Villard, Vol. 2, Book 8'']] contains relevant information about the projects which replaced the ferry at the terminus of the O&CRR line.